CO129-465 - Public Offices & Others - 1920 — Page 113

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4. That all countries represented having strict laws against smuggling of imported opium, similar strictuess should be shown in the regulation of opium exports.

5. That the sale and distribution of morphine already constituted a grave danger, and each Government should take drastic measures to control the manu- facture, sale and distribution of this drug and of other deleterious derivatives of opium.

Other recommendations urged the suppression of opium divans and the application of strict pharmacy laws in foreign concessions and settlements in China, and the prohibition of the trade in deleterious anti-opium remedies,

1911. Anglo-Chinese Agreement.

On the 6th May, 1911, an agreement was signed between His Majesty's Govern- ment and the Chinese Government, which embodied Great Britain's effort to show a By this practical appreciation of the recommendations of the 1909 Commission. agreement the work of an earlier agreement (1907) was hastened so as to bring the import trade of opium from India to an end pari passu with the progress of the Chinese As a result of this Government in stopping the production of opium in China. agreement, the legitimate foreign opium trade in China came entirely to an end on the 31st December, 1917.

1912.

International Opium Convention.

Meanwhile, on the 1st December, 1911, the International Opium Conference met at The Hague, again on the initiative of the Government of the United States. The aim of this conference, as stated in the preamble to the convention, was to advance a step further on the road opened by the International Commission of 1909, and to bring about the gradual suppression of the abuse of opium, morphine, cocaine, as also of the drugs prepared or derived therefrom which give rise to similar abuses. This Conference was more formal in character than the 1909 Commission, whose functions had been merely advisory. The delegates at The Hague Conference were empowered to sign a convention, which was to have the force of a treaty. The following Powers were represented: United States of America, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Persia, Portugal, Siam and Russia. On the 23rd January, 1912, the International Opium Convention was signed. The principal articles in the convention were as follows:

1. Raw Opium.-The contracting Powers undertook to enact laws for the control of the production and distribution of raw opium and to limit the number of ports through which export and import would be permitted.

2. Prepared Opium.-The contracting Powers would take measures for the gradual and effective suppression of the manufacture of, internal trade in, and use of prepared opium. They would prohibit the import and export of prepared opium, except those Powers which were not yet ready to prohibit it immediately; and even they undertook strictly to regulate the traffic and to prohibit it as soon as possible.

3. Medicinal Opium, Morphine, Cocaine, Heroin, &c.--The contracting Powers would enact pharmacy laws to confine the manufacture, sale and use of such drugs to medicinal and legitimate purposes. They would co-operate with one another to prevent the use of those drugs for any other purposes. Every effort would be taken to regulate import and export, and to prevent those drugs coming into the possession of unauthorised persons; and they would not be exported from the territories of one contracting Power to those of another, except when consigned to persons furnished with the licences or permits provided for by the laws or regulations of the importing

countries.

A special chapter was devoted to the trade with China, in which the contracting Powers undertook to reduce pari passu with China the opium shops and dens in foreign territories, concessions and settlements in China; and to prevent smuggling and illegal use of postal facilities in that country. The contracting Powers were to examine the possibility of making it a penal offence to be found in possession of opium and kindred drugs.

They were to communicate with one another, through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands the text of existing laws and statistical information bearing on the subject. Any Power not represented at the Conference was to be invited by the Dutch Government to sign the convention.

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Finally, the Dutch Government were to invite all the Powers to ratify the conven- tion with its protocol. As soon as the ratifications had been deposited, the Dutch Government were to notify all the Powers, and the convention was to come into force three months after the date upon which the last ratification had been deposited. Laws, (regulations, and other measures arising out of the convention were to be prepared not later than six months after the entry into force of the convention; and the date on which these laws, regulations, &c., were to come into force was to be arranged by the Powers concerned, at the instance of the Dutch Government.

By the protocol to this convention, the Conference expressed its wish (1) to direct the attention of the Universal Postal Union to the urgency of regulating the trans- mission through the post of raw opium, morphine, cocaine, &c., and of prohibiting the transmission of prepared opium; and (2) to study the question of Indian hemp, with the object of regulating its abuses.

1913 and 1914. International Opium Conferences.

The Second Opium Conference met in 1913, and decided that, although certain Powers who had been invited to sign the convention had not then done so, the deposit of ratifications might nevertheless take place. The Third Opium Conference was held at The Hague the 15th-25th June, 1914. By that time 44 out of 46 Powers had decided to sign the convention; 11 of the former had already ratified, 14 more were disposed to do so, while not one of the remaining 19 signatories had expressed any intention of not proceeding to put the convention into force. The non-signatories were Turkey (for economic reasons) and Serbia (because she had been unable to study it sufficiently).

The points secured by the Third Conference were as follows:-

1. An all but unanimous expression of opinion on the part of the signatory Powers represented in favour of the convention coming into force without awaiting signature by the remaining two invited Powers. Germany alone opposed this resolution. That is to say, an affirmative reply was recorded to the question propounded to the third Conference by the second, with only one negative voice.

2. An absolutely unanimous request to the Dutch Government to press for early ratification by all the signatory Powers which had not yet ratified in order that the convention might come into force as soon as possible. Germany, which had declined to assent to the enforcement of the convention without securing the signature of all the invited Powers, acquiesced in this proposal, as did also the representatives of several signatory Powers, which had, for one reason or another, not yet ratified.

3. A recognition by the Conference, although with several abstentions, of the feasibility of enforcement by a group of the Powers who might be ready to co-operate for that purpose without awaiting the automatic enforcement of the convention provided for in article 24 after ratification by all the signatory Powers. The date as from which such group enforcement might take place was fixed as the 31st December, 1914, and a special protocol was to be provided for Powers desiring to co-operate to this end for signature by them.

The Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs was unanimously requested to make urgent representations to all signatory Powers to complete their ratifications in order that the convention might come into force as soon as possible.

At the time of the Third Conference Great Britain had not yet ratified the convention owing to technical difficulties concerning signature and ratification on behalf of the various duminious and colonies; these difficulties, however, had ceased to exist, and the British delegates were instructed to inform the Conference that His Majesty's Government would deposit the instruments of ratification as soon as the necessary formalities had been carried out.

Unfortunately, the outbreak of the war suspended progress in this promising experiment in international legislation.

1919. The Opium Convention and the Versailles Treaty.

By article 295 of the Treaty of Peace with Germany it is provided that "those of the high contracting parties who have not yet sigued or who have sigued, but not yet ratified, the Opium Convention, signed at The Hague on the 23rd January, 1912, agree

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